Cue Ball Control Cheat Sheets for Pocket Billiards: Shortcuts to Perfect Position & Shape

If you are trying to improve your game, this book is perfect. I’ve only had it two days now, but went through it at home and then applied some of the things at the pool hall and it’s already had a marked positive effect on my game.This may be a case of my own situation, “exactly what I needed to hear” but I’ve been playing since I was 14 or so and now am 68. Used to think I was good because I did win a lot against other folk, but I wasn’t good, they were just worse. I was pretty good at making shots, but my position play was really just up to how hard I hit, maybe a little follow.So anyway, as I stopped playing at all for like 30 years and then started up again, with YouTube and all the advice I was digging it, getting better, but hit a wall. This book unlocked for me the door through that wall.Just the into. Honestly. Three major points were what I needed to hear and practice to get better.1) speed on how you hit the ball. As a kid I had a range of speed, noticed when I tried all the fancy shots I seemed mostly to have ONE speed on them all. Throughout the book all shots are designated with a speed. They did a great thing in the intro with categorizing and benchmarking those speeds. So when a shot calls for soft 3, from the intro you know it means as hard as if you hit the cue ball on the short side of the table against the rail, hitting the second rail, and the ball comes out about one diamond again. I’d never seen this before and it’s great. You can actually practice and nail the different speeds (soft 1,2,3 and medium 1,2,3, and one speed for “hard”). Soft 1 and 2 are surprisingly soft, but being able to nail them is a challenge that pays off.2) English and draw. In the intro they show a center ball hit and all the clock positions are ONE tip (meaning the edge of the new position barely touches the edge of the center tip position) from that center. This is great. From YouTube I had the idea that I had to go extreme (sometimes you do have to go just before miscue on long draw shots, but I was trying it on English and lots of other shots and overshooting or seeing the cue ball do unexpected things) and just reigning in my cue position on these shots I proved my game so much.3) Specifically using english, that in this book mostly you are hitting more softly than I was, so that the english gets a “hold” on the cloth, and can be way more effective. I got the book yesterday, and today practiced and had a shot on a ball on the rail, (unfortunately the book has no on the rail shots!) and I missed position on another ball, I marked the points and experimented and kept in mind the thing about speed and suddenly I was making the shot and position 60% of the time, and will keep working on this to get it higher.The layout of the book co fused me at first, but it is logical. In the first section of each group they show two positions for the cue ball, and the layout of all object balls. This can help you look up a shot later. You just have to study it a bit to see the point.I haven’t yet gotten to try so many of the shots, but I’m already happy with my purchase. I tend to take photos with my phone of a couple of shots I want to try, the book doesn’t seem to me to be progressive, so you can pick and choose which shots you want to try, and then have that at the pool hall.Also kind of smart, half of the shots are half table, as this requires more finesse. But of course even these you can extrapolate out the direction of the cue ball if you hit the shot harder. The other half spans the whole table.Minus points for (but for me, these are really insignificant, I’m happy with the price I paid and the content):The pool table shots often show two alternatives but the diagram is designated in gray for the shot (like 3:00 medium 2) it’s unclear, actually unreadable in many cases. But this is not a big problem because on the top of the diagram they designate also the speed and where on the cue ball to hit and it’s obvious which one is which.They don’t define a “stun” shot. Since there are at least two ways to stun, one by hitting cue ball in the center with speed, the other hitting below the cue ball for draw that then will wear off just before contact with the object ball. I wish they would have just used “center ball, medium 2” or “6:00 soft 3” to instruct us.Maybe I missed it but they don’t seem to have any shots where the object ball is on the rail. This comes up a LOT and one needs to be able to maneuver the cue ball for position from that shot.Lastly, and this is really not a big deal, ALL shots the cue ball starts out relatively close to the first object ball. It’s not a big deal because if the cue ball actually is further you just need to slightly adjust how hard you hit it.This is a long review, but I wanted to really give this a thumbs up, and point out how it can help with your game, with positioning. The scope of the book is not “position play” per se, not thinking in lines and zones, and other important considerations with position play, but all shots are only involving the cue ball, the first ball (in a game of ten ball you can think of them as the 9 and 10, etc.) and the next shot. But since they always give options to how you end up with the cue ball on the second shot again can extrapolate to shape on a phantom 3rd ball. Mainly it is the principles behind the shots. How to move the cue ball well.I bought two other books on pool that were recommended by folk here but this one is WAY better than the other two for me at least.

For the beginner I will say the a 'stroke' is a smooth 'push' of the cue stick, not a poke. If you practice pushing the cue into the ball instead of poking or jabbing it you will find your accuracy will increase a lot. Another practice that I recommend is focusing on keeping your upper arm straight and stationary and use your elbow like a pendulum to prevent your cue from moving from side to side which will also increase your accuracy. And when practicing the drills in this book remember that to make the cue ball move farther either forward or with reverse spin, this is accomplished by pushing your cue further into and through the cue ball. Try to avoid poking or jabbing because this causes the cue ball to slide before the ball grips the cloth and causes you to be less accurate. Except for draw on the cue ball, you want the cue ball to smoothly roll along the felt of the pool table. If you follow this advice from day one I think it will eliminate a lot of frustration in learning the fascinating and fun game of pool.About the book, it is sound advice that is given and the more you practice the better player you will be.

I like it, but I think it is way overpriced.

Excellent book. This book is about "Precision Position" drills. Practice what is in the book and your billiards positioning of the cue ball and pocketing of object ball will increase substantially. Recommend it highly for all serious pool players who want to achieve a higher level of playing. Study it closely and achieve wonderful results. I believe it is better than personal lessons. It makes you think and you retain what you achieve. There is no "Cheating" here just "LEARNING" and teaching yourself with this excellent guide. Kudos to the author. Well worth the money. Getting ready to work on the next book of many written by this author. Enjoy. Enjoy. Enjoy.

On getting to make better shots, it is up to you if you use this book. I did, and I have enjoyed it a lot.

Very disappointed in the Kindle purchase. You can enlarge the picture to the maximum on your computer and you still can't read the numbers on the balls on the table. The table is about one half of the width of the page. Why didn't you enlage it to fit the width?

Excellent diagrams on cue ball positions for Pocket Billiards (cheat sheets); have really enjoyed it. There are half-table and full-table layouts.

Very good

This is helping me learn to control the cue ball. The drills are well designed and the instructions are easy to follow. I would recommend for beginners who want to take their game to a higher level or intermediates who like practice drills.